Our gorgeous puppy is 11 weeks, and since we got her at 8 wks, we have been trying to train her during the day, and have managed not to have too many accidents - using a crate and expen - and she is happily racing to her 'loo' outside when we take her. At night we haven't bothered, so she has had her crate open and used the paper.

I read somewhere that it isn't possible to housetrain properly until 16 weeks, and I wondered if this is most people's experience with cavaliers. When do you think she will be old enough to keep crated at night without too great a risk of an accident (so far she's not messed it once and I want to keep it that way!)?

judy

20th November 2006, 01:31 AM

i got zack when he was 16 weeks and he had been at the home where i got him since he was 12 weeks. At that home, the back sliding door was open most of the time, on to the big grassy yard, and there were dogs of many different ages in the home, and it seems the younger ones to some degree learned from the older ones.

Zack had the idea of going outside when i got him, but for probably another month, he didn't totally get it, like he would not go inside for a week or more and then all of a sudden there he would be right in front of me, starting to squat in the living room.

I always kept Zack in the crate, closed, at night and while he was here alone, and he never ever went pee or poo in the crate. I didn't know about X pens until a bit later.

Even from the beginning at 16 weeks, i never got up during the night to let him out. When i would come to him and let him out of the crate, all he wanted to do was greet and snuggle, and he did not pee during that ritual. Then i'd let him out, and sometimes he'd take his sweet time to pee, he'd sniff around and run around in the backyard for a while before peeing. This would be after on average about 7 hours, often more, without peeing, when he was 4 months old.

So i think as dogs go, he has good bladder control. My daughter's cav, Belle, has always peed on herself and the floor when she's excited. She generally hasn't peed or pooed in the crate even though they leave her home all day and don't come home at lunch, or they used to. Now she stays in the kitchen and she has a kitten as a companion. the only exception was that she peed and pooed in the crate when she was sick, poor baby :(

Based on what i've been hearing, i think for early house training, keeping a puppy in a closed crate during the night helps them to learn to hold their bladder because they have such a strong instinct not to soil right next to themselves. When they're very young, a lot of people get up during the night and let them out and then put them back in the crate. I know that dogs do get trained other ways, besides crating, though. I made use of wee wee pads when Zack was small because it was the rainy cold season, he refused to go outside, and also he was sick with colitis which complicated housetraining. But the whole process didn't take that long. He was largely housetrained by 5 months, though there will be an "accident" maybe every couple of months, right when i conclude that he's 100%. never say never. :)

Karlin

20th November 2006, 02:59 AM

She should never be allowed to have an accident in a crate -- which usually means taking them out once in the middle of the night when they are really young. If you haven't needed to do that or are doin g it successfully without crate accidents, that's good! Generally most puppies would rarely mess in a crate even when very young unless they are left too long and cannot hold themselves.

As a general rule most find puppies aren't mostly housetrained until about 6 months and will be about a year before they can be considered reliable. That doesn;t mean they will not be housetrained before but that they will likely have accidents because owners grow too confident in a too-young pup and give it too much free rein in the house -- stop watching the pup at all times, allow it access to rooms where it isn;t being watched, etc. It takes a LONG time for a dog to know not to go in ALL the rooms of a house. :thmbsup: It's a lot for a puppy to remember especially when they continue to have smaller bladders etc than an adult dog, less self control, and more easily forget.

The fewer the accidents, the faster the housetraining will go. Sounds like you are doing well!

Laura&Lia

21st November 2006, 12:05 AM

Hi,

Our pup Lia is 9 weeks old.
She go outside at the backyard all day long to her loo, but at night she's afraig to go there because of the darkness.She Is still very young.
During the night i only took her out first and second day. Now she sleeps all night (starts whining at 7'00 a.m) and then we take her out. She sleep with her crate closed.
LAURA

Maxxs_Mummy

21st November 2006, 12:17 AM

Laura, your pup is beautiful :flwr:

Don't laugh but my two at 7 and almost 3 STILL don't like going out in the dark for a wee. I have to go with them and we have a sensor light that comes on as soon as they go out too :lol:

Katie, it sounds like you are doing really well. Consistency is the key to training them. I am sorry but I wouldn't know about cage training as I have never used one. I just put newspaper down all over the kitchen floor at night and if it got soiled I would lift it, bin it and mop the floor :)

laurenlyn1

21st November 2006, 07:24 PM

brady is has been pretty good for a about 2 months now. he's almost 7 months. he still has accidents because he's not perfect yet. a few weeks ago we were visiting my boyfriends grandma and he went in her house, but he had no idea where to go to ask to go out. i still keep him in his kennel when i'm not home. i just don't want him to get hurt on anything that he could chew, plus i'm sure he'd eliminate himself somewhere. i'm thinking about starting to let him stay in the kitchen for short bits of time soon, but i have to get the kitchen cleaned up before i can do that. now he is able to wait a whole work day (about 8 hours) for me to let him out. that's good because i can't alwasy make it home. and then even when i do get home, he doesn't bolt for the door or anything, he'll still say hi and get all happy, and knock on wood, he hasn't peed on me yet!

inca

21st November 2006, 07:39 PM

i have been so lucky with cara she is 12 weeks and clean even over night ;) ......i think its following the others thats helped her a lot

Katie

24th November 2006, 06:21 PM

Thanks for all your replies. I shut Scampi in her crate by mistake late last night - and she was dry this morning. I'm encouraged by those who have managed it at 9 weeks - she is nearly 12 weeks so she's probably ready now. Here goes!

effie

24th November 2006, 09:11 PM

Hi,

Kasper is 9 weeks and we have had him home for 10 days now. He pops in and out the cat flap and we have had a dry day already..now its the occasional poo..but to be honest i think its because he has Lucas to follow.